21st April

I cannot tell you how excited I was to learn that John had cleaning the woodburner stack pipe in the diary for today.  Let's just say the various parts were filthy and I knew that no matter what bit I tackled it would never be done quite right for John.  I point out to him that he rarely makes his expectations clear and he does act like he is still in the forces.  I was, therefore, determined that the bloody spinny thing on the top was polished to within an inch of its life even though John muttered that it didn't matter which is a phrase that irritates the pants off of me because clearly it does bloody matter - what is the point of doing all the rest so it looks clean and shiny and leave the spinny thing untouched.  So armed with an old toothbrush and a bottle of cheap tomato ketchup I set to and refused to stop before I had done the best job I could.

By the time I had finished John was looking like Dick Van Dyke and about to break into a chorus of Chim Chiminy Chim Chiminy - I loves you Mary Poppins I do.

The spinny thing had been polished and I have to say that tomato ketchup and a toothbrush were absolutely the very best things to use.  I actually think John was impressed but he wasn't going to say so.  Good job the day started a little overcast because I sat for hours out in the garden working on that thing.



We had a phone call from Andri today asking us to go down to the post office in the village and collect our post and the freshly made Flaounes which her Mum Marina had made.   Apparently they are putting the post out on a table every day for people to come by and pick up but Marina had out safe inside all wrapped up and she gave me Flaounes for us and for Rob and Di which I quickly drove down and dropped off.  It looks like the virus has put paid to any work being done on the cobbling which is a shame as it would have been an ideal opportunity to get it done.

This evening's supper was leftovers which were turned into a curry soup - Coconut Curry Noodles with Chicken and the addition of sweetcorn and peppers.  I had found the recipe on the internet and wanted to try it.  It was delicious but ever so ever so spicy but in a nice way and there is enough left over for tomorrow night too.  Not bad as this was the leftover chicken from Sunday's lunch.

We actually made progress today with Mum's internet.  Eventually it has been sorted - it transpires it was a combination of wiring and a rogue programme on her TV box which was uploading over and above her limit and we have absolutely no idea what was causing it but clearly there was some malware that had got onto it.

There was a beautiful end to the day - and it reflected the fact that we could breath a sigh of relief that Mum would be ok tonight.  I cannot tell you how that feels - it was beginning to make me feel really ill.

What the Ration Book has to say about TV
Television closed down on 1st September 1939 after the broadcse of a Mickey Mouse Film, 'Mickey's Gala Premiere'  When it started up again on 7th June 1946 the BBC chose to begin with the very same film - almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime!